Brittney Griner and the Baylor Lady Bears have one goal this season — a national championship.
Brittney Griner and the Baylor Lady Bears have one goal this season — a national championship.
Anything less would be a disappointment for the undefeated top-seeded Lady Bears, who are looking to become the seventh school to run through a season unbeaten.
Standing in the way could be the other No. 1 seeds Stanford, Connecticut and Notre Dame, dominant all season long. The Huskies and Irish both lost competitive games at Baylor this season.
Griner and Baylor, who lost in the regional final last season, could be the first team ever to win 40 games in a year, but coach Kim Mulkey only cares about one thing — a second national title for the school.
“We started hearing about that, and it’s never been a goal of ours,” Mulkey said of winning 40 games. “Our simple goal is to win a national championship.”
The basketball madness gets started Saturday — the first step en route to the Final Four, which begins April 1 in Denver.
To get to their second Final Four in three seasons, the Lady Bears might have to get through Tennessee, which is appearing in its 31st straight NCAA tournament.
“I wish I was not in the same bracket as Pat (Summitt), because of the respect I have and also because we’ve already played,” Mulkey said.
The two teams met in November, and Tennessee held an eight-point lead early in the second half before Griner took over en route to a nine-point victory.
The 6-foot-8 phenom has been dominant lately, scoring more than 40 points twice in the past 10 games, including a 45-point effort in the Big 12 tournament semifinals this past weekend.
The Lady Vols have won eight national championships but haven’t been to the Final Four in three seasons. They pledged at the beginning of the season that they would not go a fourth consecutive year without reaching the Final Four — something they’ve never done — and would try to win a national title to honor Pat Summitt. The coach announced in August she’d been diagnosed with early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type.
Summitt’s squad will face her alma mater, Tennessee Martin, in the opener.
“I like my alma mater,” Summitt said. “I like winning and moving on better.”
Before a potential matchup with Baylor, Tennessee could meet Delaware and the nation’s leading scorer Elena Delle Donne. The 6-5 star is averaging 27.5 points this season and has guided the Blue Hens to a 30-1 mark.